Episode 121: Scary Resolutions to the Fermi Paradox, with David Kipping

The 14th annual Expanding Canada’s Frontiers symposium was hosted on January 27th, 2017 by the Astronomy and Space Exploration Society, a student group based at the University of Toronto. This year’s unique theme was “What Ifs: Is the Impossible, Possible?”!

And now in a special three episode series, we’re joined here at The Star Spot by the event’s keynote speakers as we explore three provocative questions at the cutting edge of astronomy.

We are either the first civilization in the galaxy or we’re about to meet our doom. Today Professor David Kipping joins us here at The Star Spot to offer his startling – and troubling – resolutions to the famous Fermi Paradox.

The The Star Spot podcast is now The Star Spot podcast and radio show. That’s right. Your favourite astronomy program is now travelling through space, specifically the 1280AM frequency. Our broadcaster, CJRU The Scope at Ryerson, is now available on the radio dial, which means you can join us at The Star Spot at 1280AM every Sunday 8PM and Tuesday 6PM Eastern Time.

There is a weirdness at the heart of the Andromeda Galaxy, and Tony shares some exotic explanations.

About Our Guest

David Kipping is Professor of Astrophysics at Columbia University. He is well known for his work developing the latest exoplanet detection techniques, and is a pioneer in the field of exo-moonology. He is the Principal Investigator (PI) of The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler Project.